Reporting on Boston-area ska, rocksteady, and reggae

Upon hearing that the news that GWAR founder and lead singer Dave Brockie aka “Oderus Urungus” had passed away, I was immediately saddened that I’d not gotten around to see them. I’d never been the biggest metal fan, and certainly I wasn’t knowledgeable of their catalog, but I knew who they were. I knew who they were because of this bootleg recording floating around the internet. They had made an appearance on the long-running ska radio show “The Ska Parade.” Circa 1998, GWAR invaded the Ska Parade’s studio, but thankfully The Aquabats were there to defend it. Right then and there I made up my mind: GWAR was a cool, talented band with a sense of humor; a band that I wanted to see at some point in my life. That was all that mattered. Like The Aquabats, they took music seriously, but knew how to have a laugh and poke fun at the genre. Listen to the episode below. It’s about 20 minutes and it still holds up.

RIP Oderus.

The Aquabats perform an all ages show May 8th at Paradise Rock Club. Grab tickets here.